Observing the Problem of Sentient Beings' Mind-Consciousness from Seeing a Rope as a Snake

When a person sees a rope, what the eye consciousness sees should be the color of the rope, which is material sense-object (rūpa-viṣaya); the rest—the rope's length, thickness, material, texture, and so on—is form included in the dharmāyatana, the mental sense-object seen by the consciousness accompanied by the five senses (pañca-sahagata-mano-vijñāna), and all of these contain the seeds of the four great elements. What falls into the eye consciousness is a real-object realm, and what falls into the consciousness accompanied by the five senses is a semblance-bearer realm. The two combine to complete the discrimination of the rope, arriving at the conclusion that a normal worldly person should arrive at, and thus one counts as a normal worldly person. The subsequent handling of the rope should also be the way a normal person would handle it.

If, due to certain causes, this person's mind consciousness becomes deranged, they may see the rope as a snake. The eye consciousness sees the rope, and it may still be the rope's color, with the material sense-object unchanged; yet the mind consciousness, seeing the mental sense-object of the rope, forcibly discriminates the image and appearance of a snake, altering the mental sense-object. This altered mental sense-object is called a subjectively imagined realm, discriminated by the mind consciousness alone, with the eye consciousness not discriminating it together with the mind consciousness. The more and the greater the alteration of the mental sense-object, the more severe the mind consciousness's derangement; the less of the rope's substance it carries, the more it departs from fact, and the more frenzied the mind becomes. The more of the rope's substance it carries, the closer it is to fact, and the closer the mind is to normality.

In the process of seeing the rope, the rope's mental sense-object and the subjectively imagined realm may coexist, but as one wanes the other waxes. If it is entirely a subjectively imagined realm, the rope is completely taken to be a snake, the person is completely deranged, and will be so frightened as to turn and flee. If only a portion of the mental sense-object is altered into the subjectively imagined realm of a snake, the person, though fearful and trembling, will have doubts in mind and not fully believe it, and so will, while afraid, carefully discriminate and observe again. When they see clearly that it is truly a rope, the subjectively imagined realm completely reverts to the mental sense-object, the fear disappears, and they can face the rope normally. If, however, due to the relatively strong influence of psychological suggestion, after careful observation they confirm it is a snake, the mental sense-object will completely become a subjectively imagined realm, and the person may bolt and run.

As ordinary beings in the Sahā world, those with deranged mind consciousness are everywhere, all having some degree of mental derangement, with almost none completely normal. Why? The afflictive obstructions of greed, hatred, and delusion cause the mind to be chaotic and unsettled; mistaken cognitions are everywhere, so one cannot normally and correctly judge the people, affairs, objects, and principles one encounters, does not recognize the truth of facts, and only recognizes the subjectively imagined realm generated by wrong views—whether with substance or without, with basis or without.

The better a person's psychological constitution and the more normal their mental state, the lighter and calmer their mind, the smaller their reactions, and the fewer their disturbances. Conversely, the more turbulent their inner waves, the greater their influence—or one might call it destructive power—over the surrounding environment, and the more they can trigger disorder among the people and affairs around them, leading to unrest in the group. The phenomenon of an entire group being mentally deranged is not rare, and will become more and more common in the future. It mainly arises from the derangement of one leading figure, which permeates and influences the whole group, causing everyone in the group to have deranged mind consciousness and disordered minds. When the group's problems grow ever more numerous and ever larger, with problems emerging one after another, it will lead to the point where paper can no longer wrap the fire, and the group will not be far from destruction.

As long as you are not an eighth-bhūmi bodhisattva, nor a first-bhūmi bodhisattva, then everyone can be permeated and influenced. What kind of influence one should receive, and what one should be permeated into becoming—everyone has the right to choose; this right belongs to oneself and cannot be taken away by others. Therefore, choice involves wisdom, and also involves the issues of karma and merit. If one makes a correct, error-free choice, it shows that one has wisdom, slight afflictive obstructions, and merit. Some influences are not limited to a single lifetime; they may persist for many lifetimes, even lifetime after lifetime, manifesting the habits formed by that permeation. Choosing one's environment and choosing the people, affairs, objects, and principles one comes into contact with is very important, and indeed extremely important.